Wizolympics 2016: Gnome Toss Finals
I am Felicity Terris, your Daily Prophet reporter here at today’s event, the Gnome Toss! A long honored sport here at the Wizolymics! We have four countries here today competing for the Galleon medal: Australia, France, Japan, and our host country, Brazil! The Brazilian team definitely has a lot of fans here ready to show their support. This country is the favorite to win today!
I see some familiar faces competing today that we previously saw in the Sochi Wizolympics. On the French team we have Mrs. Jacqueline Glaisyer, three-time Galleon medalist, which everyone here surely remembers from Wand Skating. Well, her wand skills certainly won’t come in handy in today’s event! I hope she is up for the challenge! From the Australian team we have old Erle Elywn, from Doxy Baiting in the previous games; hopefully, he will do better than last time! I don’t think Australia will take him back with another upset! Japanese contestant Mai Nakao is a first time Wizolympian. She has had a lot of buzz around her lately, so hopefully today she will get the chance to prove herself! But most excitingly, I see famous gnome tossing champion Claudio Santos! This is his fifth Summer Wizolympics representing Brazil, and we will just have to see if he will keep up his winning streak!
As you all very well know, the game Gnome Flying is played in a garden. Thankfully, our host city, Rio de Janeiro, has provided the games with a lush backdrop for today’s event. Once our four contestants step onto the field, they will have 15 minutes to find as many gnomes as possible, grab them by there grubby little feet, and swing them over the 20-foot fence! Remember, you get points by how high you throw the little devils over the fence. One point is awarded per foot over the fence, determined by our referee and magical measurer, Rolfus Rodrigues. Points will be deducted for gnomes who find their way back.
The games start with loud chants from the crowd. There seem to be some protests happening – perhaps the Mandrake Liberation Movement is back again? No matter, they seem to be getting escorted out of the arena. Referee Rodrigues has now grabbed the audience’s attention by flashing them the whistle. He blows it, and the contests are off! Elywn of Australia finds a gnome right away! He swings the creature around his head for good measure and then flings it over the fence… oh, it hits the top of the fence and slides back. Bad start for Elywn. In this ruckus, newcomer Mai Nakao of Japan has managed to successfully throw two gnomes over the fence, just hitting the 40-foot mark on both of them. French constant Jacqueline Glaisyer seems to be having trouble finding any gnomes, and it seems she has started humming French songs to lure them out. Favorite Claudio Santos seems to have found a family because he is grabbing them by the handful! Three gnomes in each hand! Elywn is constantly hitting the fence with his gnomes. It seems Jacqueline has given up her singing attempts and is simply just standing by the fence and chucking over the gnomes that Elywn keeps missing over the fence, not a bad strategy.
The French section of the crowd seems to agree because a commotion has started among them. They are waving flags, cheering, and…ducking? Oh my! It seems that a French supporter is pushing through the crowd and running onto the field! The silver-haired radical is now running at the Brazilian contestant, Claudio Santos, and is screaming in rapid French. She looks about as angry as an incensed Veela! The referee seems to be calling a time-out as red-haired member of the crowd runs out after the girl! It looks from here that this man is Bill Weasley, Gringotts employee. He is trying to calm down the woman, who seems to be is wife, Fleur Weasley.
Security wizards are now escorting the two Weasleys off the field so that the game can continue. Luckily for our contestants, it seems that all of the gnomes have come out of the hiding places to see what all of the hullabaloo is about! This will most certainly turn into an easy second half!
The contestants are now grabbing gnomes and throwing them left and right. Santos! Nakao! Glaisyer! Elywn! And Elywn hits the fence again. I certainly would not want him de-gnoming my garden! Santos seems to be moving a little slower than before; that girl must have really put him off his game! Nakao seems to have a real arm on her! She is easily throwing the gnomes she catches higher and farther than any other contestant! And bad luck for the French, it seems some of Glaisyer’s gnomes have found their way back into the garden, losing her precious points! I guess that what happens when you just pick them off the ground next to the fence and chuck them over, huh? Elywn is still not doing well. It looks like he has been bitten, a casualty of the sport. He is now waving his hands and walking off the field. It looks like he has quit the game, folks. Can he do that? The Australian section of the audience certainly doesn’t look impressed with him. I would just Disapparate out of here now if I were him. And look at the time! The whistle has blown, and the game is over! What an eventful time it has been today at the Gnome Toss! Now all we can do is wait until the scores are tallied.
Here we have it! They have just announced the winners: Mai Nakao wins the Galleon medal with 470, Santos wins the Sickle medal with 410, and Jacqueline Glaisyer wins the Knut medal with 120 points. And of course, Erle Elywn is disqualified even though he would have finished with 0 points regardless.
As I left the stadium that day, I could still here the cheers of the Japanese crowd cheering on their champion. And of course, the wailing sounds of Claudio Santos, who threw a temper tantrum and was crying for a rematch.
